Coffee & Water Lab — Restaurant in San Jose

I've been a regular at Coffee & Water Lab for quite awhile now, but figured I should stop to write a review because I think more people should know about this place. I drove by their sign in Mitsuwa Market/Strawberry Plaza many times on the way to work before pure curiosity motivated me to try it out. The owners Luis and Amy have put together a great concept and vibe, with cutting edge machines such as the Poursteady automated drip and Bkon extraction systems, all utilizing the ph-balanced alkaline water.

As someone who has roasted their own coffee, I immediately noticed the Bellwether electric roasting machine in the back of the cafe. I had seen a Bellwether a few years ago at another local roasting business called High Note Coffee. It's a very unique roaster that is well-suited for public spaces due to its amazing ability to combust coffee waste without smoke. Compared to the billowing smoke coming out of most major coffee roasting facilities with gas-powered Probats and Diedrichs, the Bellweather produces little odor and is environmentally safe.

The drink menu is pretty diverse. For the coffee purists, there is a full espresso bar and a pour over menu of several freshly roasted single-origin beans anywhere from Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Indonesia, Costa Rica, or wherever they find a quality source. They also have an excellent cold brew which looks somewhat light in color but certainly not in flavor. For non-coffee drinkers, they also have a lot of options such as Granita ground-ice drinks that are stored in perpetually-mixing dispensers, with jasmine tea and thai iced tea flavors, which also serve as the foundation of other flavored drinks such as the Lychee Mojito and Black Sugar Milk Tea.

There is something for just about anyone here. Everything from the coffee to the food has been carefully curated. It's good to see a coffee roasting cafe passionate about their craft. I've ventured many times to local roasters such as Barefoot, Chromatic, Voyager and further out to Blue Bottle, Verve, Ritual, Four Barrel, Sightglass, Linea, Wrecking Ball, etc. It may sound like hyperbole, but Coffee & Water Lab has been my favorite place to go for the most genuine expression of coffee in the South Bay since they first opened. It would be easy to imagine them opening up new spots throughout the Bay with how popular they...

My friends and I came here for a brunch on Wednesday at 11am. It was crowded with people enjoying food & drinks while working! We managed to grab a small table to sit and we ordered Matcha Latte Tea London Fog Milk Tea Granita Honey Sea Salt Macchiato Blueberry Mascarpone Toast Avocado Toast Tomato Ricotta Toast Matcha Mochi Waffle Pop.

I was really excited to try their coffee as I have heard good things and they have single origin coffee beans! I ordered the Honey Sea Salt Latte since I thought the sea salt element would make the latte a sweet & salty treat. Unfortunately, it was was a bit too sweet for me! So if you don’t want your drink to be too sweet, remember to ask them to adjust the sweetness for you!

Amongst the food we ordered, my favorites were the Blueberry Mascarpone Toast and the Avocado Toast. The Blueberry Mascarpone is sweet, slight tartness from the blueberries, and pair perfectly with the creaminess of mascarpone. I always love avocado toast, but this one is really good! I think the umami of the seasoning pair well with mayonnaise on top!

Overall, I enjoyed the food here. I would come again and next time I will try a latte without...

I don't know how I missed this place when I'm pretty much in the area every week but I'm glad I went a fee days ago!

This place was actually suggested by my significant other although he hasn't been here himself yet. He just knew it was by Mitsuwa so today, I took it upon myself to go and purposely took my work stuff with me. I definitely felt comfortable as I entered because almost everyone was working on their phones/laptops so this is a heads for you if you’ve never been there.

My first impression of the cafe was that it was spacious, open, and bright which is my preferred work space and no loud music! Even thought it was pretty busy, I was able to grab a table right away.

I ordered their matcha latte and avocado toast. I like to drink my matcha latte iced and sweet so I asked for an extra pump of vanilla syrup and it was perfect! Their toast was also delicious, I devoured it within 5 minutes.

I'm giving this place a 5 star because I was able to put my head down and work with little to no distraction! I see why a lot of people come to this place and I definitely...